Do you dare call THIS anything but Russian Barbarism?

Stanislav Sutyagin was planning to sell his large black Mercedes but it now has a huge dent in its right side. He’s getting money to fix the damage, but it’s not coming from his insurance company or the driver who hit him. The government is compensating Sutyagin after Moscow cops ordered him to park his car in the middle of a five-lane highway to block a car they were chasing.

The suspects slammed into the car carrying Sutyagin and a friend, but kept on going. The traffic policemen who had ordered Sutyagin to place his car sideways, and stay in it, told him that neither he nor the other two cars in the barricade would be reimbursed for damages because the fleeing silver Audi managed to escape.

On Thursday, the head of Moscow’s traffic police was dragged in front of Russia’s State Duma to explain the behavior of his forces. He said the officer in charge of the policemen who carried out the operation had been fired. Russia’s interior minister called the behavior “unacceptable” and promised compensation for the three drivers.

The “human shield” scandal, as it has come to be known, erupted as Russia was dealing with another traffic accident that led to an intervention by President Dmitry Medvedev.

In that incident, a chauffeured Mercedes carrying a vice president of Lukoil, one of Russia’s biggest oil companies, crashed into a smaller vehicle, killing a well-known gynecologist and her daughter-in-law. The executive escaped with minor injuries.

In an open letter to Medvedev from some of Russia’s cultural elite, the police were accused of covering up for a powerful executive after they failed to open a case for two days. The police report said the small Citroen pulled out in front of the Mercedes and stated that no cameras captured the Feb. 25 crash.

A video emerged the next week showing the larger car moving into the lane dividing the two directions of traffic. The crash itself was obscured by a sign, but eyewitnesses and family members contest the police report, saying they will take the case to court.

18 responses to “Do you dare call THIS anything but Russian Barbarism?”

I call it agents of law enforcement who exceeded their mandate, and were or will be disciplined for it. “Barbarism” is the sort of knee-jerk wild exaggeration typical of this blog.

There’s no shortage of crashes involving police and civilian vehicles in North America, many resulting in death, some of them horror stories in which State troopers killed pregnant women by accidentally crashing into their vehicle while involved in a high-speed pursuit. Nobody calls it “American barbarism”; it’s an unfortunate accident, usually followed by a crushing lawsuit against the State. It’s certainly true that these police officers were in the wrong, because they deliberately involved a civilian vehicle and placed its driver in a high-risk situation, and that’s why they’re being disciplined.

It’s certainly not barbarism unless you’re prepared to call it so in every case it occurs, and link it to the country where it occurred. Good luck with that, because you won’t get much mileage out of it. If there’s a major difference between there and here, it’s that Russians don’t usually sue every time something like that happens (because they likely know it’s hopeless). With our lawsuit-happy society that sees people making a living out of frivolous lawsuits, I question whether we enjoy much of an advantage there.

LA RUSSOPHOBE RESPONDS:

“these police officers were in the wrong, because they deliberately involved a civilian vehicle and placed its driver in a high-risk situation, and that’s why they’re being disciplined”

If you show us an example of American police doing that, or European, we’ll be glad to call it barbarism, and to point out that two wrongs don’t make a right. Maybe you are happy to see Russians destroy themselves as long as Americans do to, we think otherwise, creep. And so do most Russian people who care about their children. You obviously don’t.

But you DON’T show us any such example, and that violates our clearly posted comment rules. Do so again, and you’ll be banned. You’re on thin ice. Watch it. Just like the Soviets, you try to change the subject to other countries instead of improving Russia. We think that’s just sad given what happened to the USSR.

And by the way, this blog isn’t about other countries, it’s about RUSSIA. Sorry if we failed to make that clear.

That Russians do not sue because they don’t have real courts is exactly what makes their society so barbaric. We in the U.S. go to court to get the redress to our grievances, and that’s what makes us civilized.

It’s not about an individual cop “exceeding his mandate” it’s about a society approving his act by failing to provide any meaningful remedy to the aggrieved individual. To say nothing that having a cop who would so deliberately and recklessly endanger a living breathing person is indicative of society’s total contempt to human dignity.

Awww, baby – why you gotta be like that? I’m afraid you’ve given me contradictory instructions, so I’ll be in the wrong no matter what I do; I’m told to supply examples, and then forbidden from doing so.

In any case, here are a couple of random cases of reckless endangerment; how did RV describe it? Ah, yes – “a cop who would so deliberately and recklessly endanger a living breathing person is indicative of society’s total contempt to human dignity.” Well said, RV. These examples are randomly chosen from the U.S. and U.K.

“Which means an untold number of innocent Americans have been subjected to the horrifying predicament of having armed men invade their homes in the middle of the night, and needing to decide immediately upon waking if the intruders are cops or criminals, and if they should submit or resist.”

Jean Charles de Menezes, shot 7 times in the head in a crowded Metro in London by British police.

I imagine you’ll argue, “None of these examples has a GERMAN car in it, with a RUSSIAN policeman”. True. However, nobody reasonable would argue that each of these cases constitutes reckless endangerment of public safety by police or paramilitary forces entrusted with their safety. And that, as VR has expressed above, is the point.

Sometimes you make me laugh, like when you say, “this blog isn’t about other countries, it’s about RUSSIA.” So the readers are posed a rhetorical question, “Do you dare call THIS anything but Russian Barbarism?”….but we’re given the option of comparing Russia to…Russia? I guess I CAN’T call it anything but Russian barbarism, if comparing it to anyone else’s barbarism isn’t allowed. Was that the point – block all the exits so everybody has to go out the I-hate-Russia door? It’s impossible to contrast one thing with itself.

You can certainly ban me if you wish; it’s your blog, and you can take advantage of the bully pulpit that position provides. I honestly don’t care either way – this blog is not my life, as it appears to be yours; I won’t run to my room and sob into my pillow, kicking my feet with hopeless rage. I do notice, however, that the rules are not applied across the board, and you beat those who disagree with you over the head with the rules while giving a pass to loyal Russophobes. Georg, for example, leaps all over the landscape from Georgian folk dancing to McDonalds to vomit, and posts huge blocks of text that could be used to make Guantanamo detainess talk – never a demurral from you.

That, again, is your privilege. However, I submit that dissent is healthy for a blog. Disagreement stimulates discussion – this generates comments, and comments are “good for business”, so to speak; you’ve said so yourself when you contrast yourself with other blogs. Without an enemy, it’ll just go back to the same circle-jerk of less than a dozen like-minded people, all nodding to each other and cackling, “so say we; so say we all”.

Please yourself.

LA RUSSOPHOBE RESPONDS:

Not one of your examples is remotely like the example we’ve given. Your examples deal with SHOOTING frenzies, not using a civilian vehicle as a roadblock AND FORCING THE DRIVER TO REMAIN IN THE VEHICLE.

What’s more, your first example is from FOUR DECADES AGO. Your gibberish is so laughable it demeans us to respond to it, which is why we have a rule about responsible sourcing.

Your disrespectful, haughty attitude towards this blog and your flagrant refusal to abide by our rules, daring to lecture us about how we enforce them, violates our comment policy, as does your failure to source your outrageous, ridiculous propaganda. It’s truly bizarre that you would spend so much time commenting on this blog and then ridicule and denigrate its producers, ignoring our repeated warnings.

Thanks for giving us permission to ban you, without that we would have wondered if we had the authority. Bye Mark. You are banned. Congratulations! Now why don’t you go and make your own blog, and see how many people will read it.

1 | Fri Militia Chief urinated right in the restaurant.
2 | Sat In Samara, a policeman tried to shoot his wife and then committed suicide.
3 | Sun In Perm participants in the procession were beaten by police.
4 | Mon policeman was wrong door and shot the man with impunity.
5 | Tues policeman persuaded the judges that the detainee, he accidentally broke his arm.
6 | Wed Orlovsky traffic cop himself paid for bogus fines.
7 | Thurs traffic police officers taking bribes in cash and sportswear.
8 | Fri In Novouralsk drunken policeman knocked the woman to death.
9 | Sat arrested by a policeman in the Urals, beheaded a young man of 60 rubles.
10 | Sun Torture in police stations for the banner “No to fascism”.
11 | Mon Moscow policeman ran over four pedestrians on the sidewalk.
12 | Tues former deputy policeman killer sold weapons.
13 | Wed policeman opened fire on the playground, heard the song girls in English.
14 | Thurs Pskov policeman found guilty of desecrating the graves of veterans on the eve of May 9.
15 | Fri three policemen and an unemployed person convicted of kidnapping a teenager in St. Petersburg.
16 | Sat Mayor police shot his wife and the wife’s mother.
17 | Sun Rostov police pursuit hoodlum, broke into the Ukraine.
18 | Mon Policemen and his nephew, committed a series of rapes and robberies, faces 10 years in prison.
19 | Tues policeman shot himself in the memorial Tsvetaeva.
20 | Wed policeman selling heroin in the spare time.
21 | Thurs policeman and director confessed that causes an explosion in Sochi for courage.
22 | Fri Police seek recognition of boxing gloves.
23 | Sat Kazan policeman told a colleague to pass tests instead of the addict.
24 | Sun actions of the police almost strangled a former policeman.
25 | Mon Ekaterinburg policeman put the debtor in the camera and put it on the counter.
26 | W in the Kamchatka Territory police officer, driving a car intentionally ran over a guard recreation centers.
27 | Wed Kalmyk policeman porter sold into slavery.
28 | Thurs drunken policeman to death knocked Permian pensioner.
29 | Fri in Tambov policeman shot at passing students.
30 | Sat policeman forged a counterfeit bill, so as not to initiate criminal proceedings.
31 | AC in the Moscow police again shot down a child.

June 2009

1 | Mon Nizhegorodskiye police tortured a businessman and was poured into the nostrils of ammonia.
2 | bw Taz district traffic police beat the detainee ignorant for refusing to written testimony.
3 | Wed Policemen beat any innocent parents in front of their children.
4 | Thurs The militiamen, extorting from nizhegorodki 100 000 rubles, 7 hours took her around the city.
5 | Fri In Novgorod militia burned the whole family.
6 | Sat In Moscow policemen accused of stealing winning World War II veterans.
7 | Sun In Perm drunk traffic police inspector was responsible for fatalities.
8 | GON Bashkirii policeman lover after a slew of charges in impotence.
9 | Tues policeman twisting the ears of the suspect, claiming to confess to theft.
10 | Wed Yuzhnouralsky policeman with a former colleague beaten to death by drinking companion.
11 | Thurs in Voronezh Oblast, a former policeman killed a fisherman for the “wrong network”.
12 | Fri In Primorye five riot policemen accused of using fake diplomas.
13 | Sat In Rostov-on-Don, the police beat an organizer of the picket “Russia without Putin”.
14 | AC in Moscow policeman shot himself issued gun because of a quarrel with his wife.
15 | Mon in the Moscow district of St. Petersburg had been fighting militiamen.
16 | Tues Altai Officer PPP beat the guard, demanding to confess to the theft of gasoline.
17 | Wed Police shoot each other because of the fatal love.
18 | Thurs Chuvash police put guns to the head guy and imitated shot.
19 | Fri militiamen forced to confess to the murder of teenage sisters, who was still alive.
20 | Sat Policemen beat man to close a criminal case.
21 | Sun Former police officer tried to rape his very young daughter.
22 | Mon policeman “ordered” own uncle because of the flat.
23 | W instead of searching avtougonschika policeman tortured with electric shocks victim.
24 | Wed Police captain teen forced to squat in the clothed body armor.
25 | Thurs policeman raped a girl on the way home.
26 | Fri In Vaskelovo tipsy policeman shot his companion.
27 | Sat policeman beat up people.
28 | Sun policeman made a fire in a children’s camp “Seagull”.
29 | Mon In Tomsk policeman frightened driver to death.
30 | Tues Policemen central police department to a pulp beat requesting the assistance of a citizen.

1 | Sat In Kolomna policemen beat up fans in the toilet stadium after the match.
2 | Sun Indifferent policeman punished by a fine.
3 | Mon Mayor Kamchatka traffic police broke up a jeep at the pier and left in the Pacific Ocean.
4 | bw, Tula region police concealed the theft of three pigs.
5 | Wed drunken policeman shot the amorous couple.
6 | Thurs Moscow police officer accidentally shot a colleague from the standard-issue weapons.
7 | Fri Metropolitan policeman shot the driver with a gun “Oka”.
8 | Sat in the Chelyabinsk region, two policemen illegally detained, and then to death zapinali man.
9 | Sun Police late for a mass fight in the south of Moscow.
10 | Mon policeman spat in the detainee.
11 | Tues policeman from Tomsk threatened service weapon was raped by ex-wife.
12 | Wed Girl policemen robbed the store a set of clothes, CDs and toothpaste.
13 | Thurs In Moscow, the armed militia major hysterical right on the service.
14 | Fri In Ulyanovsk, the police killed a detainee, “not to bother with registration.
15 | Sat in the Stavropol district policeman fined a dead man.
16 | AC in Chechnya inadvertently shot the policeman.
17 | Mon Militiamen and residents of the house came to blows because of the parking.
18 | Tues Sarapulsky police tortured suspects with the help of a gas mask.
19 | Wed policeman convicted in Khabarovsk for beating a fisherman and an attempt to steal smelt.
20 | Thurs policeman beat up a pensioner, who decided to bask in the corridor, an Interior Ministry building.
21 | Fri policeman pretended to be robbed and beaten, not to be responsible for the accident that occurred on his fault.
22 | Sat Especially important was the policeman extortionists.
23 | Sun in Sochi unwary policeman shot and killed his friend.
24 | GON Petersburg police tortured adolescent prizhigaya genitals with cigarettes.
25 | Tues inspectors, shot down cyclist to death and hid her body, he was searching for the murderer.
26 | Wed policeman scored a detainee to death with a hammer.
27 | Thurs and dinner policeman committed suicide because of credit of 70 thousand rubles.
28 | Fri In Ulyanovsk, a drunken policeman in a service car crashed into a civilian car.
29 | Sat In Bashkirii police colonel accused of using slave labor.
30 | Sun A former police officer raped a salesgirl. The man asked the store worker to help curtains hang tulle.
31 | Mon Kuzbass militia stole scrap metal, which did not manage to steal thieves.

September 2009

1 | Tues Stavropol police buried the body of 17-year-old victim at the site relative.
2 | Wed Employees “slaughter” the department arrested for extortion, robbery and kidnapping.
3 | Thurs Taking out a car from a victim as material evidence, the investigator used the “Toyota” as he pleases.
4 | Fri Tatarstan traffic cop made a sober driver drunk.
5 | Sat Zabaikalsky Major police threatened to kill villagers in the complaint to him in the prosecutor’s office.
6 | Sun Militia Major General promised protection to entrepreneurs in exchange for hard currency.
7 | Mon policeman stole money from the victim’s bank card.
8 | Tues former police officer shot a matchmaker, for the fact that bewitch his son.
9 | Wed policeman from Mordovia, extorted money from a beauty salon.
10 | Thurs In Kamchatka policeman killed a witness in a criminal case.
11 | Fri For good performance, the police bought the recognition of retirees.
12 | Sat In Moscow drunken policeman, the driver turned on “UAZ” and mauled two people.
13 | Sun militiaman accused of plotting to kill five people.
14 | Mon Policemen caught in a fictitious mowing hemp.
15 | Tues policeman pretended to be unemployed for subsidies.
16 | Wed Novokuznetsk policeman for the money helped to Roma in the marketing of drugs.
17 | Thurs policeman kidnapped two tons of candy and 14 thousand chocolate bars.
18 | Fri Chelyabinsk policeman stole the detainees, and then drove them to the detoxification center.
19 | Sat Polevskoy city traffic police beat and made a Hollywood hunt for a pedestrian.
20 | Sun PPP soldier and his commander were caught red-handed in the sale of 11 grams of heroin.
21 | Mon policeman and a doctor sent rostovchan in the “loony bin” for the sake of profit.
22 | Tues policeman kidnapped Chinese girls.
23 | SR in the Sverdlovsk region DPS officers beat up pedestrians crossing the road in the wrong place.
24 | Thurs Stavropol policeman killed hooligan pitchforks.
25 | Fri drunken policeman beat up a guard in front of store colleagues.
26 | Sat Two Moscow policemen extorted bribes hijacker.
27 | Sun-policeman jumped out of a pedophile with a 3-floor jail.
28 | Mon Kazan police forced fans “Rubin” walk in single file and sing songs to the glory of the police.
29 | Tues policeman broke a guy’s nose to show his superiority.
30 | Wed policemen forced an innocent person to confess to the murder of six girls.

October 2009

1 | Thurs policeman stole mincemeat of the visitor rumochnaia and escaped.
2 | Fri Tyumenskiye police tortured a woman before March 8.
3 | Sat Head GIBDD Kama ordinary cops used as slaves in the suburban areas.
4 | Sun In St. Petersburg precinct picked up on bribes.
5 | Mon drunken policeman knocked the money from the man with two shots in the knee.
6 | Tues Berezovsky, a policeman in pursuit of the offender, palil in the air from his revolver.
7 | SW in the Amur policemen mistakenly beaten with disabilities, received only probation.
8 | Thurs Petersburg police officer suspected of raping a tenth grade.
9 | Fri Kovylkino policeman beat up a driver for the fact that he was blinded by its headlights.
10 | Sat Sakhalin was allowed 4 years for the death of the mother.
11 | Sun Police for ticks themselves planned the crime.
12 | Mon To improve detection, guard themselves about sending criminals to the case.
13 | Tues In Omsk, a policeman shot the girl and the taxi driver and killed himself.
14 | SR in the Kirov region Policemen beat a local resident, citing the national hatred.
15 | Thurs policeman robbed his boss. “Werewolf” stole the chef was given by colleagues phone.
16 | Fri policeman beat up a girl, and another raped her.
17 | Sat In Rostov region drunken policeman shot down two people to death.
18 | Sun In Irkutsk, the police brutally beat the driver.
19 | Mon militiamen planted man “bribe” to improve detection.
20 | bw Kazan police created a gang illegally formalized loans.
21 | Wed militiamen accused of killing an investigator for refusing to open the bonnet.
22 | Thurs policeman and the prosecutor made a fire in a bar.
23 | Fri drunken policemen were burnt alive a man.
24 | Sat Regarding Barnaul policeman, moonlight pimp and a criminal case.
25 | AC in Tuva drunken fellow policeman shot and killed himself.
26 | Mon policeman shot himself in the kindergarten.
27 | Tues drunken policeman in a fit of anger kicked eye detainee.
28 | Wed policemen detained in the station: he had a fight with a girl from a police patrol in the “Haymarket”.
29 | Thurs in Bashkiria traffic cop smashed with a hammer is not liked him a scooter, while the owner was not there.
30 | Fri policeman from the Perm region knocked down a pedestrian, he escaped and hanged himself.
31 | Sat In St. Petersburg policemen TSG did not give kryshevat brothel. Police broke ribs daughter chairman of TSG.

November 2009

1 | Sun Militia massacre in the headquarters of the Left Front was held in the framework of an unknown criminal case.
2 | Mon policeman demanded 20 000 rubles for the fact that he threw the phone.
3 | Tues Magadan policeman raped a woman until she died.
4 | Wed in Makhachkala, the police dispersed the cheering fans with batons and electric.
5 | Thurs child beaten up a policeman received a suspended sentence.
6 | Fri In Chechnya, a policeman entered a former chief, beat the investigator.
7 | Sat In St. Petersburg on the grave of a friend shot himself the head of criminal police northwest of Internal Affairs on transport.
8 | Sun In St. Petersburg, drunken militiamen attacked a car dealership employee: girl rescued colleagues chief.
9 | Mon policeman accused of shooting villagers in retaliation for the complaint.
10 | Tues policeman threw people to drugs, made by the former convict.
11 | Wed Police misappropriated premiums colleagues.
12 | Thurs during an argument two policemen in Transbaikalia randomly shot wounded a woman.
13 | Fri policeman struck a woman in the groin, and then stuffed in the trunk of the car.
14 | Sat In Kamchatka Traffic policemen suspected of stealing from a vehicle involved in the incident.
15 | AC in the Tver region, criminal investigation officers convicted for the use of violence.
16 | Mon Pitersky policeman sold a personal side arm for 7 thousand rubles.
17 | Tues-policeman suicide bomber accidentally killed one and wounded another colleague.
18 | Wed Krasnodar policeman “sold” a judge of the 2.4 million rubles.
19 | Thurs policeman in the Khabarovsk Krai tossed salmon fishermen for improved performance.
20 | Fri Chuvash policeman accused of beating a local resident, who came to the disco on the horse.
21 | Sat In Kalmykia policeman a bribe released offender.
22 | AC in the court transferred the case against two police officers, who demanded money and drugs.
23 | Mon former traffic policeman beat up four people, but the police asked the victims of the fall in its difficult situation.
24 | Tues drunken militiamen killed 20-year-old boy because of the queue to the toilet.
25 | SR in the Tyumen region drunken policeman raped a pensioner.
26 | Thurs policeman shooting in clinic.
27 | Fri beaten up man Irkutsk policeman got off with probation.
28 | Sat In Orekhovo-because of the quarrel policeman shot junior partner.
29 | AC in the Samara region policeman gave false testimony in court.
30 | GON Novosibirsk metro policeman broke his spine man.

December 2009

1 | Tues Bryansk traffic cop caught up and beat him accidentally pushed a pedestrian.
Chapter MVD Nurgaliyev allow the Russians to beat unabiding policemen.
2 | Wed militiaman caught in establishing its own airline.
Head of SAI in the Urals caught selling cards that would exempt from inspections on the roads.
3 | Thurs policeman, criticizing the actions of the authorities, tried to put in a psychiatric hospital.
Togliatti police officers on trial for delivery of stolen cars into scrap metal.
4 | Fri Kirovohrad policeman forced the Tajiks to build a house.
In Orenburg, sentenced for life policeman who killed 10-year-old boy and his parents.
A resident of the Permian beat policemen, shouting, “Nurgaliyev allowed.
5 | Sat In an Internet video in which drunken Permian traffic cops beat up the driver and write in the middle of the street.
In Moscow, near the church of St. Nicholas shot local policeman.
6 | Sun Mayor police raped a 13-year-old daughter of his friend, while his guests.
In Moscow, the Interior Ministry colonel shot down a cop.
7 | Mon In Moscow, a police captain was extorting money from the janitor, having made it “illegal immigrant”.
Police officer forced the residents of the Rostov region to write a non-existent debt.
8 | bw Zabaikal’e police Major “as a relative” closed the case on the girl’s death under the wheels of timber.
In the Tyumen region will be brought to justice police officers, kidnapped from a warehouse police department paper, light bulbs and inflatable boats in excess of 1 million rubles.
9 | Wed militiamen raped women detained on the road.
The police demanded that the parents 10-year-old girl of 400 thousand rubles for the failure of the trade in narcotics.
Policeman sentenced for having helped to China, listening to telephone conversations.
10 | Thurs Podmoskovny traffic cop was a maniac. He is suspected of 20 rapes.
A policeman from Tuva teenager accidentally shot and then tossed him a gun.
11 | Fri policeman stole bearskin and electric drill.
12 | Sat Seven policemen and three prosecutors “kryshevali” criminal business.
In Bashkiria on bribery in the 20 thousand rubles caught local policeman. For this money, he wanted to “cover up” a criminal case.
13 | Sun Four policemen were found guilty of fraud.
14 | Mon Policemen brutally beat up to Tverskaya model for the broken glass in a restaurant.
In Saratov, the district judge, who brutally killed two hard worker, and then “hung up” the crime of their parents.
Policeman burned the evidence for a bribe.
15 | W under Vladimir brought down to death cyclist traffic police inspector “bought off” from justice.
Drunk Pskov policeman killed his passenger.
16 | Wed policeman illegally confiscated the passports by the Ukrainians and one of them broke his nose.
17 | Thurs in Togliatti, two policemen stole half a ton merchant watermelons.
When viewed thieved apartments operative kidnapped by mistress 18 thousand rubles and 200 euros, burying them in a shoe.
18 | Fri Krasnodar policeman with his mama and took a lonely old man’s apartment.
19 | Sat Head to combat illicit trafficking in alcohol police department in the UK “krysheval” illegal business.
20 | AC in Togliatti will judge police officers who beat a suspect.
21 | Mon Policemen brutally beat defrauded real estate investors, had organized a peaceful picket in front of the State Duma.
Traffic police officer fired a gas gun in the face violator SDA.
Was detained, was selling Christmas trees.
22 | bw Surgut policeman shot in the head of a suspect under interrogation.
Podmoskovny traffic cop brutally beaten by the driver and his passengers.
The policeman, a student and an unemployed stealing money from citizens of Vietnam.
23 | Wed policemen gave a suspended sentence for stealing building materials from the courtyard apartment building in Moscow.
Militia chief inspector to beat, who refused to hide the accident.
Police dealt with the pensioners who walked out on the protest.
24 | Thurs policeman shot 18-year-old boy in the eye.
Dismissed metropolitan traffic policeman, brutally beaten up three women who pretended to be a victim.
25 | Fri Deputy Chief ATS Muscovites took revenge for a failed fraud.
A policeman was going to kill five men for the sake of 50 million rubles.
26 | Sat policeman shot down 17-year-old girl and fled the scene.
27 | Sun Mayor police suspected of bribing a substitute for boards of slot machines in Buryatia.
The official mayor’s office and the police tried to disperse the picket environmentalists in Volgograd.
28 | Mon In Kamchatka convicted policeman, who was involved in fraud with caviar.
29 | bw Tatarstan policeman who killed a businessman on the order of a judge, first struck a deal with the investigation.
30 | Wed Sakhalinskie police beat detainees and used electric shock machine.
31 | Thurs In Orenburg police suspect a false accusation of witnesses.

Moscow – Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of the Russian city of Tomsk Sunday, four days after a journalist died in detention there after allegedly being beaten by a policeman, the Interfax news agency reported. The 47-year-old reporter had been placed in a detention cell in early January, apparently to sober up, when the police officer allegedly beat him, with no reason given. The journalist was taken to a hospital where he lapsed into a coma for two weeks before his death. He never regained consciousness.
The death was “a scandal for Russia,” said the protesters Sunday, a sentiment written on placards and chanted by the marchers, reported Interfax.
Criticism was also directed at Interior Minister Rashid Nurgalijev, who fired Tomsk’s police chief only after the direct intervention of President Dmitry Medvedev.
The alleged police assailant, 26, had mentioned “private reasons” behind his brutal attack on the man. He faces 10 years’ prison if found guilty. Three other police officers who were on duty at the time of the beating have since been dismissed.
The incident was the latest involving attacks against journalists in Russia, as well as attacks by militias against innocent civilians.
Also on Sunday, the lawyer for Alexei Dymovski, a former police major who has emerged as a vocal critic of repression by Russian authorities, complained about Dymovski’s treatment since he was incarcerated Friday on charges of fraud.
Despite temperatures of minus 20 degrees Celsius, the lawyer said he had been blocked from providing Dymovski with warmer clothing in prison, raising concerns about Dymovski’s health.
Dymovski has brought several abuses by the security services to light in recent months, leading some human rights activists to worry that his recent incarceration is an effort to keep him quiet.

About one in five Russian citizens has met with police abuse (file photo) (epa)
March 29, 2007 (RFE/RL) — A study by Russian sociologists and human rights activists shows that ill-treatment and torture are endemic in the country’s detention facilities.

According to a new study published on March 28 by the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Committee Against Torture, a Russian human rights organization, every 25th person in Russia is tortured, beaten, or harassed by law enforcement officials each year.

Shocking Findings

The report is based on opinion polls carried out in five Russian regions over the past three years. The report does not cover Chechnya, where Moscow’s military campaign against separatists has resulted in what rights groups describe as massive torture and abuse against civilians.

Yakov Gilinsky, a sociology professor with the Russian Academy of Sciences who supervised the study, disclosed the findings at a news conference in Moscow.

“So, has the adult population been subjected to torture within one year? The results — in St. Petersburg: 3.4 percent, in the Pskov region: 4.7 percent, in Nizhny Novgorod: 3.4 percent, in Komi: 4.6 percent, in Chita: 4.5 percent,” Gilinsky said. “The average result for all the regions is that 4.1 percent of people have personally been subjected to torture, or illegal physical or psychological violence.”

The respondents were also asked whether someone in their circle of friends and relatives had been beaten within the same year by law enforcement officials in an effort to extract testimonies or to intimidate them.

Between 9.3 and 17.7 percent of respondents said yes.

Even for the Committee Against Torture, which has been fighting police abuse for the best of the past decade, these figures came as a shock.

“Our organization has been working on this for seven years,” said Maksim Prytkov, a representative of the Committee Against Torture. “I’ve been working on this issue for 10 years. Personally, I was shocked by these figures, because they show that almost every Russian citizen either himself or through his close circle reliably knows that our police systematically use torture. If citizens know that’s the way police work, the proper level of trust toward Interior Ministry organs will never be achieved.”

Abuse Gone Unpunished

Russia’s flawed justice system and fear of reprisal mean only a fraction of police abuses are punished.

Asked by RFE/RL to respond to the report, the head of the Russian Interior Ministry’s press service declined to comment.

The study coincides with another report on torture released today by the New York-based rights organization Human Rights Watch.

The report accuses Russian authorities of torturing three Russian citizens and harassing four others in 2004, after U.S. authorities returned them to their home country.

U.S. forces detained the seven men in Afghanistan in 2002 and held them for about two years at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba.

The report criticized the practice of repatriating suspects to countries where they face torture, such as Russia, on the basis of “diplomatic assurances” that the returnees would not be abused.

“The United States returned the seven former Guantanamo detainees to Russia based on Russia’s promises that they would be treated humanely here in Russia,” said Allison Gill, the director of Human Rights Watch’s Moscow office. “What we found is that that did not happen. We are calling for an immediate stop to the use of diplomatic assurances all around the world by any country that uses them in order to uphold the firm standards in the [UN] Convention Against Torture.”

Upon their return to Russia, the men were detained for three months before being released. They were not beaten in custody. The abuse, says Human Rights Watch, came later.

Rasul Kudayev, a resident of Kabardino-Balkaria in southern Russia, was detained after an armed uprising in the provincial capital in October 2005. He remains in custody although he has yet to be prosecuted for his alleged role in the unrest.

Human Rights Watch says photographs, medical records, court documents, and the testimony of lawyers and family members show that Kudayev was repeatedly beaten in custody in an effort to extract confession from him.

Two other former Guantanamo detainees, Ravil Gumarov and Timur Ishmuratov — both residents of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan — were detained in April 2005 in connection with an explosion at a local gas pipeline.

Human Rights Watch’s report says they were beaten in custody until they confessed. According to the report, Gumarov was deprived of sleep for one week and shackled to a small cage with his hands over his head.

Standard Practice

But one does not have to be a terrorism suspect to face torture in Russia.

Gill says police torture continues to remain “standard practice.”

“Police abuse and torture are widespread still in Russia. So unfortunately it’s standard practice,” Gill said. “In the past 10 years, the situation has not changed nearly enough. Many of the findings of the [torture] report that we did in 1997 still hold true. We still get regular complaints of police abuse and torture. There are many reforms desperately needed to be taken in law enforcement.”

Human rights officials warn that the case is just one small story in a tapestry of alcoholism, police brutality and expectation of impunity for authorities that bedevils today’s Russia.
January 21, 2010|By Megan K. Stack
Reporting from Moscow — A Russian journalist who was thrown into a Siberian drunk tank and savagely beaten by a young police officer died Wednesday, in a case that has sparked a national conversation about the latent alcoholism and casual violence that wind their way through life in this winter-hardened land.

Konstantin Popov was a little-known journalist who specialized in writing about economics. A few days into the new year, in the thick of a 10-day Russian holiday known for its debaucheries, the 47-year-old was arrested and placed in the police holding cell reserved for the drunk and disorderly.

He was taken home the next day, but he had been beaten so badly that his wife grew alarmed and took him to a hospital. His internal organs had been damaged, and he soon lapsed into a coma.

Attacks on journalists are not uncommon in Russia, and Popov’s death drew national attention. News conferences were called. The Tomsk drunk tank was closed down. The deputy police chief resigned, along with the supervisor of the holding cell. The police chief apologized. The young officer was arrested and confessed.

But human rights activists warn that the case is just one small story in a tapestry of alcoholism, police brutality and expected impunity for authorities that bedevils today’s Russia.

“The only thing different about this case is that he happened to be a journalist, so it became a high-profile public case. But the same thing happens every day,” said Svetlana Gannushkina, a human rights lawyer and chairwoman of Russia’s Civic Assistance committee. “Usually the cases are just closed down because there’s no evidence, nobody testifies, and it’s impossible to get to the bottom of it.”

There’s no indication that Popov’s death was the deliberate killing of a journalist. He had worked for years as a spokesman for the now-bankrupt Yukos oil company; more recently he had opened a publishing company and printing plant, and wrote columns about economics.

“Anybody could be beaten like that,” said Konstantin Karpachyov, editor of the Tomsk edition of the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper. “He was not a high-profile journalist and he was not publicly known. We can’t say he had a big name in local journalism.”

Popov wound up in one of the many drunk tanks that exist across Russia, holding pens for people who have drunk themselves blind, beaten up their wives or girlfriends — or both.

The tanks are notoriously harrowing places. People who wash into police custody during the wee hours are sometimes beaten, forced into cold showers or lashed to cots; they often lose their wallets or cellphones for good.

The 26-year-old police officer told investigators that he lost control of himself because of stress, a Tomsk investigator said at a news conference Wednesday, according to the Interfax news agency. The policeman, Alexei Mitayev, will undergo a string of psychiatric tests next month.

The investigator told reporters that Mitayev was suffering “a lengthy, traumatizing situation” because he had fathered children with two women.

“Essentially, he lived between two families,” investigator Andrei Gusev told reporters. “He says the stress is due to family problems.”

I was wondering why it took so long to ban Mark, who exhibited intelligence and decency from his very first post. Tolerating his dissenting views for so long went against the teachings of Comrade Stalin who tolerated no dissent at all.

This blog bemoans the lack of freedom of speech in Russia. Those, who disagree with this premise, should be banned.

Ah! professor marx, your ‘skillful’ deflection of the topic’s main thrust from the corruption that exists in ruSSia’s rich and milizia to what happens in USA was worthy of a Lenin Peace prize issued by ‘Vova’ Putler in person. Congratulations!

But – and may I seriously ask – what has the USA got to do with this blog which is about “Do you dare call THIS anything but Russian Barbarism?” Sadly, and as per your usual ad nauseum style, you have missed the point or ON PURPOSE tried to deflect the subject matter from your beloved Putin’s Russia to any other country (which in this case is the USA).

Stick to the subject matter chum. This most definitely is not “Pravda” or “Izvestia”.

I think I’ve addressed your question above; it’s impossible to compare something with itself – why did LR bother to post that stupid “Vision of Humanity” table, if the blog is about Russia? That editorial drew comparisons six ways from Sunday. Why didn’t it just have 144 listings that were all Russia?

However, since we’re on the subject of, well, getting off the subject – wasn’t it YOU who dropped Barack Obama into the middle of a discussion about secession of Kaliningrad and Vladivostok? Or is a week too taxing for your memory?

Perhaps you want to observe your own smug instructions and stick to the subject matter, living-in-a-glass-house person.

Ah professor Marx! You are lying again, oops I mean still! But why bring these lies up? We are now discussing the Blog “Do you dare call THIS anything but Russian Barbarism?” So don’t change the topic as per your usual psychotic ramblings and stick to the subject matter, moron. Do you comprehend this simply thing, simpleton?

More importantly, before you start rambling on, try to make some sense. Or better still take your medications on a regular daily basis, maybe then will you be understood, IF that’s ever possible.

Now be good and answer this simple question! You are a one hell of a poster ‘time wise’ to Russophobe; Sadly though it’s not quality, but rather quantity drivel – hence who pays your salary for all of this twisted disinformation, unless of course it is Putler’s ruSSia, or the Nashi louts? Come on and come clean, Soviet goon boy, I want you to state “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the whole truth, so help me God!”

Finally your quote “However, since we’re on the subject of, well, getting off the subject” shows just how scrambled your thinking is?

@bedlam, Another lying Spambot Mascal Moron, wrote; “Now though, in Russia, the situation with the police has improved, and things are definetely better than they were several years ago.” Learn to spell “definitely” moron.

Is Chechnya part of Rasha? How has the situation improved there, and for whom?

Documentation, Please or be banned for violating the rules just like your butt buddy, Mark.

Russians and Ukrainians not only sell black cars to each other as if they were their possessions, but these barbarians even sing racist songs bragging about ownership of Black-German cars like Mers and especially Bimmer:

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